Angel's Damnation
by Goujoe
Summary: I am the blessed, I am the cursed. All I come to know become his toys. All I come to love becomes dust under his feet. I reach out and touch nothing. I cry out for an end and hear only silence. There isn't always a light at the end of the tunnel.
1. Crater

Off the ocean coast of a bustling metropolis lay a tiny island, sitting atop the island sat a large T shaped building. Titan Tower.

It was an ordinary, boring evening for the young inhabitants of the tower. Robin sitting in front of the stereo listening to music, Cyborg and Beast Boy playing video games and making a lot of noise while doing it, Terra watching the two, Starfire wandering about doing this and that, and Raven with her nose deep in a book trying to ignore all the racket.

Suddenly, without warning, the young heroes were violently startled by the thundering boom of what sounded like an object hitting water at enormous speeds. All quickly stopped whatever they where doing and rushed to the closest window in the direction of the alarming sound.

Outside was the apparent source of the noise; two humanoid figures viciously fighting in shallow water, bodies shooting at each other at almost blurring speeds and clashing weapons. It wasn't late, but since it was winter it had grown dark early and it was impossible to determine much about the mysterious combatants, so everyone went as fast as they could down to the exits to get a better look.

After the group had gathered on the beach and Cyborg tuned on his flashlight, they could better see the two individuals, who had brought their fight closer to shore. One, wielding twin katana swords, it was difficult to tell what he was wearing, for he stayed a black silhouette, even in the direct light. The second held a long sword, he was a boy, maybe in his early teens, wearing a long, dark brown trench-coat that was flowing and flapping as he went. Their battle was awe-inspiring! The first, flipping and spinning like he was a ninja doing some raging, deadly dance; and the boy, leaping and shooting in every which way as if a great, invisible giant was hurling him from earth to air to earth like there was absolutly no distinction between the two.

It was like watching two gods, or perhaps demons, fighting some legendary battle; never tiring, never slowing for a second. The Titans dared not intervene, somehow knew to stay away... but how did they know that? It felt as if the thought had been put in their minds from the outside. They realized it was the boy, who was giving them a grim expression, using some kind of telepathy.

Was he protecting them?

The sword wielding boy's attention was then brought back to the fight, dodging and blocking several attacks while the six teenagers at the water's edge wondered the boy's allegiance. Then they caught the attention of the ninja. He cut off from the fight to sprint at blinding speeds straight for them. Unfortunately they had no time to react.

Wait! He seemed to suddenly swerve and veer off his deadly course, barely missing the closely huddled group, throwing up plumes of sand and rocks like bullets as he went past them.

That's when Raven felt it; it felt like a thousand daggers stabbing into her side. She looked down with wide eyes and saw the red blood pouring from the side of her blood-soaked lower torso. "KYYYAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" She screamed in pain as she collapsed on her back to the sand, which was now red with her blood. One of the kicked up stones must have hit her side and broken some ribs.

The boy fighter now doubled his pace and leaped at an angle some thirty feet in the air, a second later the ninja had recovered, spun around, and followed suite from the opposite direction. Just as they where about to meet, a short burst of gunfire rang out through the night. As the young boy's feet hit the ground, the ninja's body had gone limp in mid-air. His body flopping and flailing around before it made contact, head first, with a boulder on the beach. It hit with a stomach-churning "SLPACH!!!" and lay lifeless in a crushed, mangled heap on the beach.

In an instant the boy was down next to the wounded Raven, examining her bloody side. "What the hell are you doing!?" yelled Robin, very alarmed that someone who had just fought so maliciously was leaning over his good friend. But then he stopped his protests, the strange boy was gentle, careful, and had a look of pure concern on his face. Was this the same boy he had watched just moments before?

The mysterious boy paid no heed to Robin' words, as if he hadn't heard them at all. He then brought his hands over Raven's injury, which had a disturbing lump that must have been a rib, pushing out, and a large bleeding cut on the fleshy part of her right side. He concentrated, and then, miraculously, the wound slowly began to disappear. He was healing her!

The boy breathed heavily and clenched his teeth; apparently this was a difficult task. In about forty seconds the wound was gone. The astonished Raven sat up, "Th-thank y--". She gasped; when she looked down she had realized that the boy's strain wasn't from effort,

It was from pain.

Exactly where the gash had been on Raven's side there was a growing circle of fresh blood soaking through the boy's shirt! The boy met Raven's gaze with a soft, yet odd, almost laughing smile as he lay down on the sand and slipped into unconsciousness.


	2. Introductions

Nicholas didn't immediately open his eyes when he awoke. Where was he? Why did his chest ache? He then noticed a presence next to him. He slowly opened his eyes to see a person sitting over him. When his eyes adjusted to the light he could see a girl in a dark teal T-shirt and blue-jeans preparing some bandages. The girl had very pale skin, shoulder length amethyst colored hair, matching colored eyes and a small ruby chakra on her forehead.

The girl raised her eyes from the bandages she was unrolling. "Oh, you're finally awake." She said with a hidden hint of relief. She folded her arms and rested them on her lap, leaning forward slightly as she studied him. He had light skin that became slightly tanned at where his left arm met his shoulder and at his lower right arm. He was about 5' 6", had slightly unkempt black hair that came down past his ears and had odd, blended streaks of grey hair. His body looked fit, not to the point of buff, but certainly very active; he also had two strange tattoos on the backs of each hand, each were masterfully intricate designs that formed the shapes of a white ape on his right hand, and a black crocodile on his left.

Nicholas brought himself to a sitting position, his hand on the back of his neck. "So... where exactly am I? And where's my shirt?" he asked the last part with a bit of friendly sarcasm. "Well, right now you're in our home, Titan Tower; and your shirt, coat, boots, backpack, and hat are on the table over there" she paused, and looked over at the window "That was quite a show you put on." He looked at her, "show?" he ask curiously. "You know... you fought that ninja... well, I guess you where out for about three days. Do you remember?"

It all slowly came back to him. Then he looked down at his bandaged torso, then at the girl, remembering why he was bandaged up like this. "By the way, my name is Raven." The girl said after a long pause. "Mine's Nicholas." Raven then got a nervous look on her face and looked down at her folded arms "I want to thank you... for... you know..." A kind smile came across his face "don't mention it, that would have been a fatal wound to you, and I'm able to take stuff that would be fatal to most people."

Raven got out of her chair and started out of the room to tell the others their guest was awake. She stopped at the doorway to look back at Nicholas, who had lain back down.

Who was he? Why had he been fighting that man? How was he so incredibly powerful? Why did he heal her if he got the wound? She continued down the hall as she pondered all of this.

A few minutes later Raven got back to the room with the others following behind her. When they arrived they found that Nicholas had put on an olive green shirt from his pack and was putting on his beat up, old, dark grey fedora. When they all got in the room and sat down, Nicholas bowed, bending at the waist in a jokingly fancy way "Nicholas T. Barclay, at your service." Robin looked around at the others, and the at Nicholas "well it's good to meet you Nicholas, I'm Robin, this is Beast Boy, Cyborg, Starfire, Terra," he pointed with an outstretched hand as he said each name, and the person he indicated waved, nodded, or smiled when their name was said "and I think you've already met Raven."

Before Nicholas could respond, Cyborg interrupted, "I hate to end the introductions," the light reflecting off of his metal limbs as he leaned forward, with a serious look on the human side of his face "but who the hell was that guy you were fighting?" Nicholas turned to a window, looking down at the beach where he could see splatters of dried blood coming from behind the rock that his opponent's body hit "him? His name is Ninelives."

After a brief pause, a slight look of confusion came over Beast Boy's green face "wait, did you say 'his name _is_'?" Nicholas folded his arms and looked over his shoulder, "He has that name for good reasons." Nicholas walked over and sat in a chair, adjusting his hat as he did. "Do you mean to say that terrible man shall return here?" The comment came from Starfire, a look of fear in the young alien girl's jade eyes. If someone as powerful as the man she saw fighting attacked their home, they wouldn't stand a chance against him,

Unless...

As if to answer Starfire's thoughts Nicholas raised his eyes with an unhappy look "Yeah, another incarnation of him will probably attack this place in about a month or so, that's about how long it's usually taken before he resurfaces," he raised his eyebrows and smiled with a hopeful look on his face, "so... I'm going to have to stay here for a while, is that alright with all of you?"

Robin looked surprised for a moment then smiled "I guess that's okay" immediately after Robin finished his answer Nicholas delightedly jumped from his seat "Really?! Thanks a lot! I've been getting tired of sleeping on the cold ground!" Nicholas paused, "speaking of sleeping, what time is it?" Beast Boy looked up at a clock, "It's 11:28, I'm gonna hit the sack." Terra yawned and agreed "Me too, I'm pooped." Raven stood up and stretched "I'll show you the spare bedroom." Nicholas replied with a warm smile "thanks for all your help!"


	3. Eyes

_haven't been updating much, sorry about that, I just haven't had as much time to write as I would like. Oh, and about the French part, I don't know French. I just used an online translator thing so please feel free totell me if it's wrong. Enjoy!_

_Update: **WARNING! GORE! I repeat: GRAPHIC GORE!**it's near the end, skip itif you mind's eye is particularly vivid..._

It was around 9:15 in the morning when Nicholas walked down the hallway. After a few minutes of looking around, he finally found the doorway to the kitchen/dinning room where six teenagers crowded around a table eating breakfast.

As he slowly walked into the room, Raven glanced over toward him and stopped in surprise. The others, seeing her look, turned their gazes to Nicholas and were startled themselves by what they saw.

Nicholas hesitated out of confusion, looking from face to face trying to determine the cause of their surprise. "Why are you all looking at me like…" his eyes lit up as the answer dawned on him. He glanced down at where his left arm should have been and smiled apologetically as he raised his left arm, (which he was holding in his right hand) "It's a prosthetic, sorry if it freaked you out."

After Nicholas had reattached his arm and sat down to eat, Cyborg struck up a conversation. "That's some pretty fancy machinery you got there, you build that yourself?" he sounded impressed, "Well, I had a little help." Nicholas continued on to small talk, moving from one topic to another, always keeping the polite friendliness of a good guest.

Raven ate in silence, she never liked chitchat, but her attention unsurprisingly shifted from her pancakes to Nicholas. He was definitely quite a charmer, smiling, joking, and laughing at precisely the right moments. She didn't think this was odd though, he was going to spend a month or more with them, and it was understandable that he stay on friendly terms.

Something still bugged Raven about him though, something she couldn't quite put her finger on. Nicholas then glanced over at her, and Raven was surprised and caught off guard, for his eyes seemed profoundly different somehow as they looked at her. It seemed like his gaze went past her eyes and looked deep into the guarded depths of her very being.

She knew there was something special about this boy.

The next few days passed without much incident. No emergencies, no attacks on the city, other than show their guest around there wasn't much to do. Nicholas was always quite friendly and nice to his hosts. But after a while of being around him and conversing with him, Raven sensed something in him that he was hiding. She would occasionally find him sitting on the roof looking out on the water with a very sorrowful look on his face until he noticed her, then he would close his eyes and try to look deep in meditation.

One morning Raven woke up earlier than everyone else, so she went up to the roof to meditate in the morning air, But when she reached the roof she was surprised to see Nicholas. He was just standing near the edge looking out over the ocean. Usually Raven would have left him to himself, but for some reason she was inclined to join him.

When she walked up next to him, he stayed completely still, as if he was so deep in though that he had left his body behind. "Odd things… memories… at one moment they can help you keep your strength when you have none… but at other times they just remind you of all the things you've lost… do you know what I mean?" Raven was slightly taken aback at the odd question, but then her mind drifted to memories of her own. Her friends, the mother she was never allowed to see… then to her father. Nicholas simply closed his eyes and said in a quiet voice "I see". This was a side to Nicholas that Raven hadn't seen yet, it was odd… yet… strangely more welcoming then his usually sunny demeanor. He seemed like a completely different person.

Then Nicholas opened his eyes quickly, they were bright and exited. He spun around and dashed for the stairway, Raven was startled by the sudden change in moods and his excited look; she warped through the floor to go after him, wanting to know the cause.

Raven landed on the floor of the main room just as Nicholas reached the bottom of the steps. Nicholas had stopped and was looking at something; Raven followed his gaze to see a young girl standing in the middle of the room. The girl looked ghostly and decrepit, with long stringy black hair that hid her face, a pale blue tinge to her dead looking skin, and raggedy clothes in muted colors. The strange girl lifted her head, showing her face as the hair fell back. When Raven looked into her eyes, she was surprised to see the same excited look she saw in Nicholas's.

"Domi!" Nicholas ran up to the girl "What are you doing here!?"

"Now what kind of question is that to ask an old friend?" She had a soft voice with a bit of a French accent to it.

The girl hesitated for a moment and looked around, "Say, where's V?" Nicholas motioned towards Raven "Je l'ai pensé mieux pour ne pas le montrer juste encore." The girl nodded her head "Okay, that's fine."

Nicholas turned to Raven, "Terribly sorry, where are my manners? I'd like to introduce you to Dominique. Domi, this is Raven." Dominique smiled as she bowed her head to Raven who, at a bit of a loss for words, bowed her head as well.

After Nicholas introduced Dominique to the rest of the group, Starfire excitedly offered to show her a tour of the building. "Sure, that sounds good." She said with a smile, "While you're busy with that, I have to go buy some things at the electronics store to work on my arm" Nicholas said as he massaged his prosthetic arm, which was twitching. "Speaking of going out, we're low on food," Cyborg said as he scrounged through the refrigerator, "Raven, it's your turn to get the groceries."

"You've saved this city and the people in it too many times to count and you still have to buy your groceries!" Nicholas laughed as he and Raven walked down the street. "Well, most of them aren't exactly what you'd call 'grateful'." she said as they passed a newsstand with magazine covers like: 'Is Raven the Anti-Christ?' and 'Starfire: the alien without a green card!'

"Right up until you stop a flying car from smashing them!" A smirk came over Nicholas's face and Raven smiled back, "Yeah, but at least we get government grants for all our equipment."

When was the last time she had smiled like that?

Just then Nicholas came to a halt as though he had been hit in the gut with a brick, his eyes wide and horrified. "What is it!?" Raven yelled as her body went tense, ready to spring at some unseen foe.

Without a word Nicholas sprinted like lightning down the sidewalk, Raven flying close behind. He stopped at the entrance to an alleyway and looked in with horror, when Raven caught up she nearly threw up when she saw it.

At the dead-end of the alley, hanging on the wall some six feet from the ground, was the horrifically mangled, charred corpse of what looked to be a young girl, pinned to the wall by a metal spike rammed through her throat. Blood was sprayed all around the dark alleyway, the walls scarlet with it. A look of terror burned onto the girl's broken face, her jaw hanging on by a thread of flesh, her eyes gouged out. Her internal organs were strewn about below her; it looked as though her gut had burst from the inside. On the ground in front of the carnage was her torn off left arm, which looked much less damaged than the rest of the poor girl.

After what seemed like an eternity, with sorrow in eyes, Nicholas approached and picked up the girl's severed limb to examine it. He immediately dropped the arm and fell to his knees as he stared in shock at what he had unturned, on the underside of the arm were two words carved into the flesh:

"Hello Nicholas"

Nicholas stared into the words with hatred welling up from deep within his eyes. Slowly, a word slipped from his lips "…Seraph…" It sounded like venom in the air, with years of bent up anger and spite hissing out with it. He clung to his mechanical left arm so tightly that the limb nearly snapped off.

_And I'll leave it at that...  
__For now..._


End file.
